Shift from concentrated solar power to photovoltaic inexorable now

Several proposed big solar projects, including one in California, have switched from concentrated solar power (CSP) to the more familiar photovoltaic (PV). The trend now seems irreversible. Photovoltaic will now be the dominant technology used for big solar plants. CSP, with one notable exception, is losing out everywhere.

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CSP reflects the heat of the sun off parabolic mirrors to a central tower where it creates steam to power turbines and thus create electricity. Its big advantage is that excess heat can be stored, often in molten salt, to be used to create power when the sun isn’t shining. But it has one big technological drawback. It needs water, lots of it and in deserts too. Obviously this puts CSP up against all the other interests competing for scarce desert water. Some CSP plants recycle water. This does decrease consumption, but still uses substantial amounts of water.

The other challenge CSP faces is the disruptive technology of solar photovoltaic. The PV market is competitive. Prices are plunging and will continue to do so. CSP used to be cost-competitive against PV but no longer is. It’s difficult to see how it ever will be again. Plus, PV uses way less water than CSP, which is another significant factor in its favor.

The recently approved Sonoran Solar Energy project in Arizona decided against using CSP and will now use PV. The proposed Blythe Solar Power Project in California has also decided to switch from CSP to PV. This was a huge loss of business for German solar giant Solar Millennium and probably a contributing factor in its recent filing for bankruptcy. The Blythe plant was supposed to be the first 1 GW solar plant in the world, but the switch to PV will slow development. Instead, a South Africa project may be first. Construction at Blythe has temporarily been suspended until right-of-way issues are resolved. It received $2.1 billion in loans from the federal government in 2011 but that’s not nearly enough for the entire project. I’m not able to determine if the loan is still valid after the project switched to PV.

Solar Millennium was the second German solar company to file for bankruptcy. Solon was the first. Germany has been a world leader in solar but these two bankruptcies have plunged their solar industry into chaos. Relentless competition and price-cutting from Chinese solar companies powered by government subsidies are the driving factors in the PV market now. Even Germany is no longer immune from what some say is Chinese dumping of PV at below cost prices.

There is one project that is still ostensibly committed to concentrated solar power, however. That is the behemoth Desertec Project which plans to install enormous amounts of CSP in North Africa and the Middle East, and use it to power Europe. Siemens, one of its backers, says it is still backing CSP. But Solar Millennium was to be its provider so it’s difficult to see where its CSP technology will come from now. Also, as an aside, Desertec has been remarkably tone-deaf in partnering with, or even involving in discussions those countries where it plans to install the solar. It may well be that political problems sink this project (if water issues don’t). After all, Desertec solar plants will use spectacular amounts of water in some of the driest areas on the planet.

If Desertec gives up on CSP, then it is effectively dead as a technology. If it chooses CSP, then it will probably limp along for a few more years. But for all practical purposes, this battle is over. PV has won.

Tags: concentrated solar power, green energy, photovoltaic, renewable energy, solar power

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7 Comments

Chad Peace
01.09.2012
I don’t know why we do all this shifting. We should stop subsidizing everything, stop putting up barriers for others, and just let all the alternative energies compete .. let the best one win.
Gerry Wolff
01.09.2012
Desertec is committed to whatever technologies are most cost-effective, in both desert regions and elsewhere.
In terms of generation, CSP has had the edge but PV has gained ground. In terms of load balancing on the grid, CSP has a major advantage over PV because it can supply power on demand, day and night.
The “lots of water” argument is not accurate, see http://www.desertec-uk.org.uk/csp/no_water.html .
Matt Metzner
01.09.2012
Solar is a good starting point for alternatives. Good to know projects like these are popping up in the Southwest. I’m personally looking forward to other alternative energy sources that are more efficient and can unseat our current energy sources.
Jane Susskind
01.09.2012
I’m not an expert on solar power, but from reading this article, it seems like if PV uses less water than CSP, it’s a good switch to make. In my opinion, money should never get in the way of protecting the planet and natural resources. It seems counterproductive to use solar power technology at the expense of another natural resource (water).
Bob Morris
01.09.2012
Well, the Internet emerged out of DARPA and solar PV came from NASA. R&D and subsidies can be a good thing too. But in this case, I think the best technology is winning, and that’s PV not CSP.
Some CSP recycles water, but it’s more expensive. And still uses lots of water. PV just uses water to clean the panels, not to create the energy.
Dan Storey
01.11.2012
Hi Bob,
I enjoyed reading your atticle but I wanted to address a couple of misconceptions.
1. Water
You are, of course, right to identify this as a serious issue. The “Charting Our Water Future” report by McKinsey shows that in just 20 years, this report shows, demand for water will be 40 percent higher than it is today, and more than 50 percent higher in the most rapidly developing countries.
However, you are wrong to assert that CSP needs more water than PV. If you take a look at NREL’s “Review of Operational Water Consumption and Withdrawal Factors for Electricity Generating Technologies” from March last year you’ll find that CSP with dry cooling uses no more water than utility scale PV. Although both perform much better in this regard than conventional energy.
2. CSP is thriving
Hundreds of megawatts of CSP projects have been announced in the last few months throughout Asia, the Middle East and North Africa and CSP continues to enjoy broad government support in many regions and nations across the globe. True it did lose ground to PV in the United States in 2011 and true PV worldwide installed capacity may dwarf that of CSP but you can look at this from another angle. With so little installed capacity it is truly remarkable that CSP is broadly cost competitive with PV. Even though the technology has been around for a long time, the industry itself is still young. The scope for cost reductions and efficiencies through economies of scale and accumulated experience are massive.
This is a technology with clear technical advantages in terms of storability, deliverability of power and its ability to facilitate much higher percentages of renewable energy in the mix.
Best,
Dan
Tom
01.16.2012
I think PV has serious limitations for utility scale deployemnt since the cost of energy storage for electricity is prohibitive. SHEC Energy’s integrated generaion and storage technology is about half the cost of an integrated PV battery storage solution and is projected to be a quarter of the cost by year end.